


Mistletoe

by Rehearsal_Dweller



Series: One Big Loud Happy Family [1]
Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Christmas fic, M/M, meet-the-family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-02
Updated: 2013-08-02
Packaged: 2017-12-22 05:27:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/909444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rehearsal_Dweller/pseuds/Rehearsal_Dweller
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carlos moved to a dinky, absurd little town and fell for the voice on the radio.<br/>And then he was threatened into bringing him home for the holidays.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mistletoe

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this while I was in Florida, because I had just caught up with WtNV and had fallen in love with Cecil/Carlos.  
> I know it's a Christmas fic.  
> I know it's August.  
> Just read it, it's cute.

It started like this:

Carlos moved into a dinky, unexplainable desert town called Night Vale. He met a whole bunch of strange people, more accustomed to the bizarre than the explainable. The oddest of whom was, by far, the local radio host, Cecil.

Cecil had been infatuated with Carlos since he’d first come to town, which was simultaneously kind of neat and _absolutely mortifying._  See, Cecil had a tendency to gush about Carlos on the radio, and literally everyone in Night Vale listened to Cecil’s show.

Now, it wasn’t that Carlos didn’t find Cecil attractive - quite the contrary, actually. In fact (and Carlos was fond of facts), Cecil was kind of gorgeous, if you must know. Carlos just wasn’t as expressive of his feelings as Cecil. As a result, the frequent soliloquies on the perfection of his hair and person made him somewhat uncomfortable.

Carlos managed not to mention Cecil to his family for the first few months that he lived in Night Vale. And then - 

The Call From Home: 

"Hey, Carlos!" his sister greeted.

"Hello, Ana," Carlos replied.

"How are things in the desert, little brother?"

"Oh, you know, as normal as it gets in a small town like this." He glanced at the clock - which didn’t work like a real clock, but it kept Night Vale time and that was usually enough - and noticed that it was nearly time for Cecil’s show. “Ana, you’ve kind of caught me at a bad time -" He began, despite himself.

"Ooh, hot date?" Ana asked. “Who’s the lucky gal? Or is it a guy this time?"

“ _Neither,_ thank you. My - my friend does a local radio show. I listen to support him. He works really hard on it," Carlos stammered defensively.

"Mhm," Ana responded.

"I  _definitely_  don’t listen to the show to hear how he says my name," Carlos babbled on.

"I never said you did," said Ana. “But  _you_  just did. So tell me about this guy. You’ve barely mentioned anything about your neighbours or friends."

"He’s, uh…" Carlos hesitated. “He’s great. Really sweet, cares about the community, sort of obsessed with me, possibly omniscient, and his first name is Cecil."

"Uh, Carlitos, what was that last one?"

"Cecil. His name is Cecil."

"Before that."

"Oh, he’s into me. Like, really into me. Which he’s told the entire town. Which kind of intimidates me because, like,  _woah_  what am I even supposed to do with that? I can’t even  _begin_  to respond on that level, man…"

"…okay." Carlos could tell she didn’t quite think so, so he moved on.

"Aaaanyways, Cecil’s show is starting, call ya back later,  _bye!"_

The Incident:

Really, this town was absurd sometimes.

He was midway through telling the crowd this when the attack started.

He came to a bit later. The first thing he was aware of was Cecil’s voice - someone had a radio on.

(Someone always had a radio on.)

Cecil was talking about him again. Only this time, Carlos couldn’t hear the adoring grin on his face. In fact, Cecil was breaking down.

"Call the station," Carlos croaked before he’d even opened his eyes. " _Call_. Somebody tell Cecil I’m alright! Please!"

Which was, after a fashion, how he ended up sitting on his car in the Arby’s parking lot with his hand on Cecil’s knee and Cecil’s head on his shoulder.

And then, a month or so later, on a date with his favourite absurdly-dressed radio host.

(Not that he knew any  _other_  absurdly-dressed radio hosts, but it’s all in the sentiment. As previously mentioned, Carlos is… not the best with words. Or displays of affection. Hence the spur-of-the-moment Kiss-and-Flee at the end of their date.)

It came to pass, though, that Carlos became slightly less awful with expressions of emotion after a few months with a boyfriend inclined toward soliloquising to large groups of people about him. He hadn’t quite reached Cecil-level wordiness, but he did eventually stop running away after kissing him, and that  _had_  to count for something, right?

The Orders:

"Caaaaaaaarlos!"

"Hey, Magdalena."

“ _Why_ didn’t you tell me that you’ve gone and found yourself a man? I had to find out from Ana!"

"How does  _Ana_  know?"

"You told her! She told me that you called in a drunken haze after your first date freaking out and I just haven’t gotten around to pestering you about it yet! So are you bringing him home for Christmas, big brother?"

"Magda!" Carlos glanced around nervously, blushing. “I don’t even know if  _I’m_  going up there for Chris-"

"Oh yes you are," declared Magdalena. “And you’re bringing that Cecil of yours."

"But  _Lena,_ " began Carlos.

"But nothing! If you try to wriggle out of this, Mama and Tia and Ana are going to call you, too. And if all else fails, Ana and I will come down there to Night Vale and  _get you_ _."_

 _“_ Fine, fine. But Cecil might not be able to come, okay? Christmas is… different in Night Vale."

"Try your best. We’ve got to check this guy out, okay? Don’t want him hurting our dear Carlitos."

"Oh my  _god_ , Magda, please don’t call me that in front of him. Please."

"No promises. Buh-bye, Princess!"

The Request:

The radio station gave Carlos the creeps, but Cecil spent more time there than in his own apartment, so Carlos put up with it.

Which is why he found himself slipping into the room outside of Cecil’s booth just in time to hear Cecil say, "…Guess  _what_ , Night Vale. A certain lab coated someone just walked into the next room. More on that story as it develops, I  _promise_. But for now, the weather."

As the day’s weather started playing, Cecil stepped out of the booth, the absurd grin reserved for Carlos plastered across his face. “Carlos! What brings you to the station today? Something sciencey?"

"Uh, no," replied Carlos. “I’m here for, uh, personal reasons. My sister called and threatened me into going back to Wisconsin for Christmas."

"Sounds like a traditional holiday invitation," Cecil said, still beaming. “What’s the news?"

"She- she wanted me to invite you," Carlos continued. “I mean, I- I wanted to, too, but she also said there would be consequences if I didn’t. Not that I wouldn’t have, but, er, I hadn’t quite… quite built up the nerve yet, y’know?"

"You want me to go home with you for Christmas?" 

"To Wisconsin, yes."

"Well of course I’ll go with you! Do I get to meet your family? Do we have to bring the turkey, or is someone else performing the traditional holiday slaughter?"

Carlos opened and closed his mouth a few times before starting to laugh. “I think Mom would be happy if we just brought a side dish or something."

"Excellent! Oh, the weather’s almost over! I’ve got to go back into the booth!" 

It was funny, how sometimes Cecil seemed to be able to make time slow down and sometimes it passed like nothing.

"Right," said Carlos. “I’ll call Magda back then."

Cecil’s grin widened - which,  _wow_ , shouldn’t have been possible - and he pressed a quick kiss to Carlos’s cheek. Before Carlos knew it, Cecil was back in the booth, saying, “Night Vale, Night Vale, Night Vale. More on the perfect, lab-coated human in the next room.  _Carlos_  has invited me to visit his family with him for Christmas!"

Carlos flushed bright red and ducked out of the room again.

(He sat in his car and listened to the last few minutes of Cecil’s show, though, and then drove Cecil home.)

The Trip:

"So, have you ever been to Wisconsin, Cecil?"

"No! In fact, except for that one little trip to Europe a while back, I’ve hardly left Night Vale."

"Okay. Okay, I probably could’ve guessed that. You’re just so… Night Vale."

"Thank you!"

"I’m not sure that was a compliment."

"Of course it was."

Ana’s husband, Mark, picked them up from the airport.

"So this is Cecil, then?" Mark asked.

"Yeah," replied Carlos.

"His sisters are gonna corner you sometime this week," Mark warned. “Usually they don’t have to, because they’ve background checked and picked out his partner themselves, but that didn’t happen this time. Don’t worry, though, their bark is worse than their bite."

Cecil nodded seriously. “I think I can handle them."

Carlos chuckled nervously. “They aren’t really planning to do that, are they?"

"Carlos, you have known Ana and Magdalena your entire life," replied Mark. “What do you think?"

"That’s what I was afraid of."

The Holiday:

They passed the local dog park on the way to Carlos’s mother’s house, which prompted a seven minute explanation of the fact that nowhere outside Night Vale were dog parks certain death.

Mark didn’t get it.

(Carlos was pretty sure that Cecil didn’t quite believe him.)

They were separated as soon as they walked in the front door. Carlos was taken hostage by his mother and Tia Isabel to help cook. Cecil was dragged off to parts unknown by Carlos’s toddler-toting sisters.

The next time Carlos saw his boyfriend, Cecil looked kind of miffed.

"How’d it go?" Carlos asked.

"I’m a little offended," Cecil answered. “Like I’d  _ever_  hurt you." He paused. “And, for the record, Night Vale wouldn’t either."

"I know you wouldn’t," said Carlos. “Ana and Magdalena are just protective. You saw the photo in the front hall. When we played knights and princesses, I was a princess."

Cecil nodded seriously. “Well, as the oldest, Ana was obligated to take on the most dangerous role, especially if there are dragons involved."

"There weren’t any real -" Carlos trailed off. “You know what? Never mind. Mom wants the girls for something, so she asked me to take the kids to a reading of Auntie Claus at the library. Wanna go with?"

"That sounds dangerous," said Cecil suspiciously. “Will the children be armed?"

Carlos laughed. “No, but they’ll be fine. I promise the librarian won’t go on a rampage or anything. She’s an old friend, grew up across the street."

"You’re friends with a  _librarian_? I didn’t know they could form attachments!"

"Cecil. We’re not in Night Vale, remember?"

"Right." Cecil still sounded skeptical, though, and at the library he kept a safe distance and at least several people between himself and Mary Beth, the aforementioned librarian.

On the last day of their stay, Magdalena and Ana cornered Cecil and Carlos in a doorway and stared pointedly at something above their heads.

Carlos glanced up. “Oh, mistletoe."

"Oh dear," said Cecil. “I don’t want to engage in a ritual fight to the death with  _you_. I  _like_  you!"

"No, Cecil, this isn’t home, okay? No fights to the death," Carlos whispered, barely holding in a laugh. “It doesn’t mean that here. Here - here it means…" He paused for a moment and then pressed his lips to Cecil’s, pointedly ignoring Ana and Magdalena’s approving squeals. 

"No, tell me! I want to know!" Cecil exclaimed. “What does it mean?"

Carlos laughed. “Thanks for coming with me, Cecil. I think this entire trip might’ve been worth it for this moment."

He gave Cecil another quick peck and then walked away, leaving his absurd radio host boyfriend to ask the girls what exactly it was he was missing.


End file.
